Chandigarh, June 15
Uncertainty continues to
prevail over the confirmation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to
Punjab in connection with the 350th year celebrations of the Sikh holy
town of Anandpur Sahib.
Thousands of devotees have started
converging on Anandpur Sahib town, 85 km from here, which is home to
Takht Keshgarh Sahib, the second most important shrine in Sikh religion
after 'Harmandar Sahib', popularly known as Golden Temple, in Amritsar.
The main event is being held by the Punjab government and the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee June 17-19.
While
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal maintained that the prime
minister has assured him that he would come to Anandpur Sahib on June
19, state BJP leaders said there was no confirmation of Modi's visit.
Badal met Modi on May 29 in New Delhi and extended a "personal invitation" for the event.
Badal
later in a statement claimed that the prime minister accepted the
invitation and confirmed he would participate in the Anandpur Sahib
event.
"The prime minister had accepted my personal invitation to
attend the celebrations and assured me that he would be part of the
glorious mega event. Extending invitation to the prime minister for such
a mega event is a prerogative of every chief minister," Badal told
reporters near Phagwara town on Sunday.
However, president of the
BJP's Punjab unit Kamal Sharma has now claimed that there was no
confirmation of the prime minister's visit. "We have no confirmation of
the prime minister's visit," Sharma said here.
BJP leaders
claimed that Modi was to receive and meet a top foreign dignitary in New
Delhi on June 19 and the Punjab visit was unlikely.
The Prime Minister's Office has made no confirmation or denial of Modi's Punjab visit this week.
Officials in the Punjab government, including those of Punjab Police, remained evasive on the visit issue.
The
ruling Akali Dal and the BJP have been running an alliance government
in the state since 2007. Relations between state BJP leaders and the
Akali Dal top brass have seen some differences in recent months.
Anandpur
Sahib town was founded in 1665 by ninth Sikh guru Tegh Bahadur. It was
at Anandpur Sahib that the tenth Sikh guru, Gobind Singh, baptised the
first five Sikhs and announced the birth of the Khalsa Panth on April
13, 1699.
